Four Days in Tainan and Taichung: Day 4

We had walked so much the day before that there was absolutely no way I could get up in time for breakfast XDDD.

So the final day’s itinerary was a little more relaxed than yesterday’s.

The places we wanted to visit were also farther away, so we took taxis for most of the trip.

I once spent some time in Tainan during college because of a service-learning camp. We usually moved around in pairs then, so we rode scooters.

This time, however, there were three of us most of the way, so taxis made more sense.

If you do not want to rent a car, you can always give Tainan’s taxi drivers a chance!

We also had work the next day, which meant we could not get home too late and still unpack. Once travel time back to Taipei was included, we could not stay out very late in Tainan on Day 4 anyway.

After all that explanation, I should emphasize that I was not slacking off and deliberately writing an extra-short travel post XDDDD.

Today was simply a light wandering-around itinerary plus an extensive souvenir-shopping mission.

Baat Ng Yi Ice Room

We really could not wake up early, so our first meal of the day began with lunch.

That said, my friend told us this place was very popular too. We still had to leave a little after ten, or there might not be any seats.

Compared with Day 3, we slept a little later on Day 4—until around 9:30, I think XDD.

Honestly, that was still pretty early XDD.

Our first stop on Day 4 was farther away. This was no neighborhood place around the corner for a Tainan local; it was a restaurant worth making a special trip for: Baat Ng Yi Ice Room.

When I first heard the name, I imagined an ice shop and wondered whether eating ice for lunch would be a little strange!

I looked it up while we were on the way.

In Hong Kong usage, an ice room is a place selling cold drinks, slushes, sandwiches, toast, and other snacks or light meals. Traditionally, its light-refreshment license did not permit cooked dishes made to order.

As food options diversified, cha chaan tengs gradually replaced many ice rooms. Some ice rooms also obtained restaurant licenses and transformed into cha chaan tengs that could serve cooked food.

Strictly speaking, there are not many pure ice rooms left today, so thinking of one as a cha chaan teng is close enough here.

All right, that was a tangent. Back to the trip: our first stop was a cha chaan teng opened in Tainan by an owner from Hong Kong.

One more note: the restaurant was closed on Saturdays and Sundays at the time. If you want to visit, remember to check the opening hours on its Facebook page first.

Baat Ng Yi Ice Room on Facebook

As usual, to protect a Tainan local’s private list, I am linking only the Facebook page and not giving you the address XD.

From the outside, Baat Ng Yi Ice Room genuinely felt very Hong Kong. It looked a little out of place beside the surrounding buildings in Tainan, but that also made it distinctive.

We happened to be the first group of customers that day, so nobody was outside yet.

Using playing cards as queue numbers was incredibly distinctive, and the design on the back was especially beautiful.

I asked my friend about them. Apparently, this deck had once been available through some event, but it was no longer obtainable. Such a shame QQQ.

Because we were the first group, we received the ace of spades.

Later, I saw on the Facebook page that some customers apparently sneak the cards away. Hey, do not do that—please return them properly!

While I was bored and waiting, I also looked up where to buy that warning sign. If any readers like it, search Google for “banana warning sign” and you should find it.

As opening time approached, more and more people gathered outside.

Taxi after taxi arrived. Many tourists had clearly come because of the restaurant’s reputation, and while waiting, we also noticed visitors from several different countries.

This really was a famous place! Watching the crowd made me even more excited to try the food inside.

While people waited, the owner gave them not only a playing card but also a menu, so they could decide what to order before going in.

The interior showed how much care the owners had put into making guests feel as if they had stepped into a Hong Kong ice room or cha chaan teng.

The seating areas were marked with mahjong tiles. I thought my group of friends who absolutely love mahjong would adore this place.

Then again, those friends may simply enjoy playing mahjong; mahjong-themed merchandise might not interest them nearly as much XDDD.

And was the food any good?

All I can say is that it was seriously delicious.

The chicken leg was especially memorable, because I am also someone who cannot be bothered to gnaw meat off a drumstick.

But this one was deeply seasoned and wonderfully tender. A light cut with the knife separated the meat from the bone, so there was no need to destroy my dignity by gnawing away at it.

This is one dish I always want to eat whenever I visit Hong Kong.

Taiwan has plenty of dry-fried beef ho fun too, but most versions use a Taiwanese style, and the rice noodles often do not absorb much flavor.

Here, however, the rice noodles were thoroughly seasoned. Every strand carried the flavor of the beef, and it was excellent.

If you are a little nervous about eggs that are still half raw, you can absolutely try their scrambled egg and char siu rice.

The egg stayed soft and tender while being fully cooked. With char siu that was not dry and a distinctive sauce, it was unbelievably good.

We also ordered toast, a piggy bun, lemon tea, and Coke with lemon. Honestly, by the end we were impossibly full.

The whole meal cost only a little over NT$800. Considering that three people left full and the food was so delicious, it felt like exceptional value.

Anping Old Fort

What kind of school-field-trip itinerary makes people decide to visit Anping Old Fort, you ask?

As usual, we were obviously going for the food nearby and merely stopping by the fort. We definitely did not truly plan to tour the place itself.

Then I underestimated the determination of my two friends. We really did end up exploring Anping Old Fort very seriously, ahhhhh.

The weather on Day 4 was even more intense than on Day 3.

I mean the heat and sunlight.

There was not a single cloud in the sky. The sun hit you directly and very earnestly—it was unbelievably, unbearably hot.

Still, because the weather was beautiful and the light was abundant, every photo came out stunning.

As we walked around, we saw quite a few influencers who had chosen this exact time to take pictures. Every one of them wore shorts and short sleeves. They truly had no fear of the sun!

To be fair, I was doing the same thing, hehe. I had not even put on sunscreen. Looking back, that was genuinely risky, and I was lucky I did not return looking like a piece of charcoal.

If the heat becomes unbearable while you are touring the fort, you can pause in the exhibition area. The air conditioning is quite cool.

You can also browse the souvenir area. Many products at Anping Old Fort collaborate with existing brands to offer special fort or Tainan editions.

Kuai Kuai, for example, had a special Anping Old Fort edition. If you enjoy brand collaborations like that, you can support one while enjoying the air conditioning.

The real reason we had come to the area around Anping Old Fort was to buy two things: preserved fruit and shrimp crackers.

I am not the target audience for preserved fruit—my friends are—but I am an enormous fan of shrimp crackers.

After all, fried tangyuan must be paired with shrimp crackers. As someone who loves fried tangyuan, surely my affection has to extend to shrimp crackers too, right? (That is not how this idiom works at all.)

Almost every shop outside Anping Old Fort offers samples, and many sell the same preserved fruit or shrimp crackers. Readers can try each one before deciding which shop they prefer.

After sampling them, I thought Lin Ji You Shrimp Crackers were very good. They also had a buy-some-get-some promotion, so that was the shop whose crackers I brought home.

Once I was back, I only wondered why I had not bought more. The crackers were dry and crisp rather than oily, came in many flavors, and made excellent snacks.

BTW, the light in my friends’ home was fantastic. Their living room would work well as a photo studio. (Do not start planning things like that in someone else’s house!)

Chaguo Tianshi and Other Souvenirs

Chaguo Tianshi desserts had to be reserved in advance through the shop’s Facebook page. Once my friend knew we were returning to Taipei that day, she ordered some for us to collect in the afternoon.

Before going back to my friends’ place, however, we made a detour to buy pudding from Fang Lan Chuan.

In the past, the only Tainan pudding I knew was E.Late Pudding.

But now that E.Late can be ordered through 7-Eleven even in Taipei, I have become a little... tired of it.

So my friend had our taxi make a quick detour so we could buy Fang Lan Chuan pudding.

Fang Lan Chuan offered only one flavor, and you could not buy an arbitrary number. The options were six or twelve, and the twelve-pack could be paired with an insulated box.

If you have a long journey ahead, you could consider the twelve-pack with the insulated box so the pudding can stay protected from the heat for longer.

I did not eat the Fang Lan Chuan pudding until a few days after returning home. Unlike the looser texture of E.Late, it was very firm—an extremely pudding-like pudding XDDDD—with a wonderfully rich flavor.

The caramel underneath was not overly sweet either. Even with only one flavor, eating two at once would not be much of a challenge.

I highly recommend it to people who enjoy a strong milky flavor and a firm pudding texture.

Chaguo Tianshi was within walking distance of my friends’ home. After returning from Anping Old Fort, putting our things down, and resting for a while, we walked over to collect the desserts we had ordered.

Seeing this kind of sign made me wonder whether small shops in Tainan simply prefer signs like these.

They really are tasteful, though. If I ever have the chance to open a shop, I would like a cute sign like this too XD.

Chaguo Tianshi’s interior was not extravagantly decorated: just white paint, simple wooden tables and chairs, and a few shelves holding cute little objects.

With a few plants added as accents, the entire space felt refined.

The baking and preparation area was completely hidden from the customer side.

When we entered, we could faintly smell things baking. It was warm and fragrant.

Because we had ordered through the Facebook page, we did not sit down and eat at the shop. We simply collected the order and left.

If possible, I would like to eat there next time.

Chaguo Tianshi’s takeaway packaging was refined too. Each dessert sat in a clear bag and also had its own firm box, protecting it from collisions while being carried.

Whether for yourself or as a souvenir for the trip home, the desserts looked beautiful, tasted excellent, and felt entirely presentable as gifts.

The only issue was the lack of cold storage. My friend solved it by removing a few puddings from the Fang Lan Chuan insulated box and placing the desserts inside instead.

The Trip Home

Because we had work the next day and did not want to get home too late to unpack, we booked the HSR directly from Tainan to Nangang, timing it so we would reach home a little after ten.

To get from central Tainan to the HSR station, we again took a local train to Shalun and transferred inside the station to the 6:30 p.m. HSR.

The timing for leaving the city was awkward. There was not enough time for dinner before boarding, so we planned to eat something quickly at the Tainan HSR station.

Fortunately, the station had both Ippudo and MOS Burger, so at least we would not starve XDDD. I quickly ate a MOS set meal and got ready to head home.

I happened to have my iPad with me on the return trip, so I worked on startup matters and company tasks. I actually accomplished quite a lot during the two-hour ride.

Absolutely a workaholic, as usual.

Conclusion

To be honest, this four-day trip through Taichung and Tainan began because I wanted to escape what was happening in Taipei. I wanted a change of scene and some space to think about what to do next.

Fortunately, by the time I wrote this post, the problems troubling me had found good resolutions—or perhaps, like the poem fortune said, they had become a bowl of sunlight held in someone’s hands.

The Taichung portion was relaxed and convenient. It was also something of a date, so we played things by ear. I am deeply grateful to my boyfriend for those two days; we managed to eat and do everything we wanted.

The Tainan portion was a genuine local-guided itinerary: the best neighborhood breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night food, mixed with literary stops, a school-field-trip stop, and every souvenir we could carry.

We happily sprawled around my friends’ home for two nights. We have known one another since high school and survived that embarrassing dark-history era together, yet we still talked until after four in the morning on both nights XDDDD.

I have always been afraid of traveling with friends. Too much compromise and accommodation can happen along the way, and I worry that the trip might cost us the friendship, so I have usually preferred traveling alone.

But these four days and three nights were genuinely wonderful. Thank you so much to my boyfriend and my friends for making them possible!